Temptation

Are you ever tempted? If your answer is no or never, then you are either delusional or just plain telling a fib of ginormous proportions.

Temptation is all around us. It is part of the very fabric of life ever since Adam and Eve cavorted in their birthday suits in Eden. Then they messed up.

Good and evil exist because the universe or somebody decreed it must be so. But there is a catch. They must be balanced. Thus, a balance of sorts exists, sometimes and briefly. The problem is no one figured on the unreliability of the human factor in the equation. What. A. Surprise.

If you live on this planet, you know imbalance creates a vacuum. What happens when a vacuum exists? Something or someone is compelled to move in and restore the balance. Often, the resulting imbalance becomes chaos. If you doubt that, you must live in a cave with no access to the news.

Giving in to temptation is a conscious or subconscious choice. We tend to act impulsively for short-term gratification. Of course, most steps off the path begin with a rationalization the tempted one tells himself or herself.

Now that we have established the existence of temptation, you have to wonder what form it takes. Well, gentle reader, just to confuse things even more than they are already, everything and everyone can become a temptation. It depends on circumstances.

Why are we so lucky? Or, are we just plain cursed? Since you have free will, the choice is allegedly yours. Under ideal conditions, free will and a generous dose of common sense are present. Otherwise, free will can and does turn floppy at the worst possible moments. Or is it sloppy?

How many times do we read about stupid couples, movie stars and other folks with more wealth than common sense, before we get the urge to bop them on the head? The specific stupidity we refer to is Nannygate.

The couple or someone acting on their behalf hire nannies for the children. Eventually, the bottom-feeders we affectionately call the Media gleefully report that the male component of the couple had an affair with the Nanny. Or, better still, he and the Nanny shared more than spit, resulting in a mini-me. In either case, such mattress testing does not go undiscovered for long.

When photographs of the Nanny appear, we are all shocked, shocked. Why? She is young and gorgeous. You would think enough of such stories have come to light that someone who had a bit of gray matter in their thick skull figured out the connection. It does not matter how beautiful and sexy the guy’s wife is, the Nanny is his temptation test.

The solution is simple. Instead of hiring the young, willing types, who would not know Mary Poppins from the bartender at the local suds club, go with mature. Hire happily married, middle-aged women who resemble aged wine, well-aged wine. If you dare, perhaps a middle-aged nun from a local convent will fit the bill. But during the interview make certain she kicked up her heels before giving up all the monkey business for the contemplative life. The less worldly nuns, middle-aged or otherwise, can become problematic given the right temptation. You have heard of priests and nuns getting married, right?

As we Are you ever tempted? If your answer is no or never, then you are either delusional or just plain telling a fib of ginormous proportions.

Temptation is all around us. It is part of the very fabric of life ever since Adam and Eve cavorted in their birthday suits in Eden. Then they messed up.

Good and evil exist because the universe or somebody decreed it must be so. But there is a catch. They must be balanced. Thus, a balance of sorts exists, sometimes and briefly. The problem is no one figured on the unreliability of the human factor in the equation. What. A. Surprise.

If you live on this planet, you know imbalance creates a vacuum. What happens when a vacuum exists? Something or someone is compelled to move in and restore the balance. Often, the resulting imbalance becomes chaos. If you doubt that, you must live in a cave with no access to the news.

Giving in to temptation is a conscious or subconscious choice. We tend to act impulsively for short-term gratification. Of course, most steps off the path begin with a rationalization the tempted one tells himself or herself.

Now that we have established the existence of temptation, you have to wonder what form it takes. Well, gentle reader, just to confuse things even more than they are already, everything and everyone can become a temptation. It depends on circumstances.

Why are we so lucky? Or, are we just plain cursed? Since you have free will, the choice is allegedly yours. Under ideal conditions, free will and a generous dose of common sense are present. Otherwise, free will can and does turn floppy at the worst possible moments. Or is it sloppy?

How many times do we read about stupid couples, movie stars and other folks with more wealth than common sense, before we get the urge to bop them on the head? The specific stupidity we refer to is Nannygate.

The couple or someone acting on their behalf hire nannies for the children. Eventually, the bottom-feeders we affectionately call the Media gleefully report that the male component of the couple had an affair with the Nanny. Or, better still, he and the Nanny shared more than spit, resulting in a mini-me. In either case, such mattress testing does not go undiscovered for long.

When photographs of the Nanny appear, we are all shocked, shocked. Why? She is young and gorgeous. You would think enough of such stories have come to light that someone who had a bit of gray matter in their thick skull figured out the connection. It does not matter how beautiful and sexy the guy’s wife is, the Nanny is his temptation test.

The solution is simple. Instead of hiring the young, willing types, who would not know Mary Poppins from the bartender at the local suds club, go with mature. Hire happily married, middle-aged women who resemble aged wine, well-aged wine. If you dare, perhaps a middle-aged nun from a local convent will fit the bill. But during the interview make certain she kicked up her heels before giving up all the monkey business for the contemplative life. The less worldly nuns, middle-aged or otherwise, can become problematic given the right temptation. You have heard of priests and nuns getting married, right?

As we stated earlier, anything or anyone can be a temptation under the right circumstances. For example, if you are on a diet, a piece of cake or even fruit, forbidden on some diets, can tempt us.

There is a line in The Lord’s Prayer, which is a bit puzzling if not downright wrong. “Lead us not into temptation…” Why would the Lord lead us into temptation? Is that even possible? It is if you consider who set up this balancing game in the first place.

The real secret of the game is, to achieve balance we must constantly pass tests of temptation to reach that elusive and brief moment of balance.